Social Capital as a Predictor of Quality of Life: The Czech Experience

In the paper, we understand social capital as a variable that affects the quality of life. A variable whose change affects another variable is called a predictor. The paper is based on Putnam’s understanding of social capital with the dimensions of trust, norms and networks. Trust is considered the most important dimension, and for the purposes of the paper social capital is identified with trust. Quality of life is a holistic concept with two dimensions expressing an assessment of satisfaction with life. After society became richer - in the 1960's in the West and, after the collapse of the bipolar world, also in Central and Eastern Europe - the need for quantity was replaced by the need for quality. The paper is focused on Czechia, with social capital as a predictor of quality of life being investigated geographically at the level of districts. According to the research hypothesis, social capital will have a strong influence on the quality of life of residents in Czechia, i.e., it will be its predictor. To test the validity of the research hypothesis, research was conducted. The aim of the paper is to outline the epistemology of social capital from the aspect of quality of life, description of quality of life and then to test the validity of the research hypothesis by measurements. The result of the quantification of social capital and quality of life at the level of districts and their correlation is important from an epistemological point of view for two reasons. The first is to question the generally accepted premise of the position of social capital as a strong predictor of quality of life. The second is the recognition that the premise of the position of social capital as a strong predictor of quality of life applies in the districts with the highest quality of life

Quality of place as the winner of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of quality of life. Will this knowledge strengthen the development of geographical psychology?

The paper is focused on the third wave of the pandemic and its comparison with the first wave in terms of the quality of life of university students in Czechia. In the first wave, the society came together, with solidarity being a prominent manifestation. The third wave differed from the first one in medical (vaccination was already available) as well as social terms. The paper has two objectives, the first is to measure the quality of life and related variables in the third wave of the pandemic and to compare the values found in the third wave with those in the first wave of the pandemic. The second objective is to identify which of the factors related to quality of life are predictors of that quality. The hypothesis assumes different measured values of quality of life for men and women. The measurement yielded knowledge of the high value of quality of place and environmental quality, which can enrich the quality of life epistemology on the one hand and geographical psychology on the other. Trust, health, happiness, quality of place, and safety were identified as factors. The measurement revealed the finding of different quality of life values in the third and first wave of the pandemic. While quality of life values increased in the first wave compared to the pre-pandemic period, both quality of life values and factors decreased in the third wave compared to the first wave. The only exception was one factor that we consider to be a winner of the third wave of the pandemic. The factor that declined in all measurements is considered to be the loser of the third wave of the pandemic. The paper concludes with implications derived from these findings.Slovenská Akadémia Vied, SAV, (VEGA 1/0578/24); Ministerstvo školstva, vedy, výskumu a športu Slovenskej republikyMinistry of Education of the Slovak Republic; Slovak Academy of Science [VEGA 1/0578/24

Self-reported health of university students in Slovakia during the end phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the quality of life

In the paper, we focused on the self-reported health of university students and its relationship to the quality of their life. Self-reported health is part of the growing interest in non-medical understanding of health. Two objectives and three research hypotheses are established. The first goal is to find out what the self-reported health of university students in Slovakia is during the period in the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Before starting the measurement, the following research hypotheses were formulated: H1: Respondents will evaluate health on a scale of 0-10 with values of 8 and higher and H2: Differences in self-reported health evaluation of male and female students will be low. The second goal is to determine the impact of self-reported health on students’ quality of life and which of the proposed variables are predictors of self-reported health. In connection with the second goal, the third research hypothesis H3 is formulated: The impact of self-reported health on the quality of life of students measured by the correlation coefficient reaches a value of 0.30 – 0.69, i.e. mean value. Self-reported health, quality of life and other variables are measured on a scale of 0-10. The Shapiro-Wilk test and the non-parametric Wilcoxon one-sample test are used in the measurements. The result is knowledge of high values of self-reported health of men and women, hypothesis H1 was fulfilled. The correlation between health and quality of life is higher than 0.3, self-reported health of men and women is a predictor of their quality of life. Hypothesis H3 was fulfilled.Slovenská Akadémia Vied, SAV; Ministerstvo školstva, vedy, výskumu a športu Slovenskej republiky; Vedecká Grantová Agentúra MŠVVaŠ SR a SAV, VEGA, (1/0706/20

Axiological search for the meaning of quality of life and the design of indicators as a result

Príspevok sa zaoberá kvalitou života v jej postmodernom a ne-postmodernom chápaní, pričom ich hodnotí z axiologického aspektu. Výsledkom je návrh indikátorov, reflektujúcich zmysel kvality života.The contribution deals with the quality of life in its postmodern and non-postmodern understanding, evaluating them from an axiological point of view. The result is the design of indicators reflecting the sense of quality of life

Description Relationship between Urban Space and Quality of Urban Life. A Geographical Approach

The examination of the relationship between the construct of urban space and the construct of the quality of urban life is based on the knowledge that their common element is real physical space, i.e., the place. If the examination of the relationship between the two constructs is to be meaningful, then both must be on the same comparative basis—that means quality. The paper consists of two parts—the first part, which is theoretical, takes the form of conceptualization of urban space and the quality of urban life, including the identification of elements which affect them. The result of conceptualizing urban space into a qualitative form is liveability. The result of conceptualizing the quality of urban life is a holistic quality of life in the city, containing two domains—subjective and objective. The second part of the paper is the application of both constructs in a concrete form, based on measuring the values of these indicators and also the analysis of the results. The measurement takes the form of liveability on the one hand and of satisfaction with the place and/or satisfaction with the quality of urban life on the other hand

Social Capital as a Predictor of Quality of Life: The Czech Experience

In the paper, we understand social capital as a variable that affects the quality of life. A variable whose change affects another variable is called a predictor. The paper is based on Putnam’s understanding of social capital with the dimensions of trust, norms and networks. Trust is considered the most important dimension, and for the purposes of the paper social capital is identified with trust. Quality of life is a holistic concept with two dimensions expressing an assessment of satisfaction with life. After society became richer—in the 1960’s in the West and, after the collapse of the bipolar world, also in Central and Eastern Europe—the need for quantity was replaced by the need for quality. The paper is focused on Czechia, with social capital as a predictor of quality of life being investigated geographically at the level of districts. According to the research hypothesis, social capital will have a strong influence on the quality of life of residents in Czechia, i.e., it will be its predictor. To test the validity of the research hypothesis, research was conducted. The aim of the paper is to outline the epistemology of social capital from the aspect of quality of life, description of quality of life and then to test the validity of the research hypothesis by measurements. The result of the quantification of social capital and quality of life at the level of districts and their correlation is important from an epistemological point of view for two reasons. The first is to question the generally accepted premise of the position of social capital as a strong predictor of quality of life. The second is the recognition that the premise of the position of social capital as a strong predictor of quality of life applies in the districts with the highest quality of life

Sustainable life. But which life?

Príspevok sa zaoberá životom, resp. dobrým životom z aspektu hypotézy, formulovanej v roku 1994 Josefom Vavrouškom, zakladateľom Spoločnosti pre trvalo udržateľný život. Ten analyzoval postoj prevládajúcej formy euro-americkej civilizácie k rozhodujúcim aspektom ľudského života, pričom ako odpoveď naň navrhoval návrat k hodnotám grécko-rímsko-židovskovsko-kresťanskej civilizácie.This contribution concerns life, specifically a good life from the perspective of the hypothesis formulated in 1994 by Josef Vavroušek, founder of the Society for Sustainable Living.  Vavroušek analysed the attitudes of the dominant Euro-American culture on aspects of human life, and recommended a return to the values of Greco-Roman Judeo-Christian civilization

Geographical conceptualization of quality of life

The conceptualization of quality of life in terms of geography is based on two assumptions. The first assumption is that the quality of life consists of two dimensions: subjective and objective. The subjective is known as ‘well-being’, while the objective is the proposed term ‘quality of place’. The second assumption is based on the recognition that quality of life is always a spatial dimension. The concept of quality of life is closely linked with the concept of a good life; geographers enriched this concept by using the term ‘good place’ as a place in which the conditions are created for a good life. The quality of life for individuals in terms of a good place overlaps with the quality of life in society, namely the societal quality of life. The geographical conceptualisation of quality of life is applied to settlements within the city of Liberec